The $400 million redevelopment project will include a new public park, over 50,000 square feet of retail space and a 250 space public parking garage.

Council Member James Van Bramer had said there would be a continued commitment to the arts in the building.

He said the owners agreed to increase the amount of artists’ studio and gallery space and offer Cohen to curate the nearly 10,000 square feet of art panels and walls in the building.

On Tuesday, many who stopped by the site were shocked and saddened to see that the buildings had been wiped clean.

“I love the pictures,” one man said. “Why did they take it away? I hate the white. The white’s gotta go.”

Some at the site leveled their comments directly at the developer.

“You’re a coward,” Cohen told Silverman.

“He’s getting rid of the artists in the most crude way he can and getting his way,” 5 Pointz fan Christopher Calderhead said. “It’s the death of a real cultural institution in the city and there doesn’t seem to be any room for this kind of art anymore.”

But Wolkoff said Tuesday afternoon that the move was not done maliciously.

“I’m never going to say anything bad about them. Why would I allow it to go on for close to 20 years if I didn’t not only like but love the work that they do? The last thing I would want them to do is get arrested while I’m painting the building, their emotions would run over. I felt if I did it in the morning, it would get over with,” Wolkoff told Silverman.

He said the overnight paint job was done in an effort to avoid confrontation.

“I can just picture the building coming down one piece at a time. It would be torture for me and it would torture for them.” Wolkoff said. “It’s like a Band-Aid, I just felt, one shot.”